YOAKAM, DWIGHT




3 PearsCD 13,90
Dwight Sings BuckCD (Digipak) 8,90
Live From Austin TXDigipak-CD 13,90


Nach der Hammermeldung mit John Hiatt hier schon der nächste hochkarätige Neuzugang in der Blue Rose Familie - seit fast 20 Jahren nimmt DWIGHT YOAKAM eine absolute Ausnahmerolle in der amerikanischen Country-Szene ein. Kein anderer hat es über einen so langen Zeitraum geschafft, kommerziellen Erfolg und künstlerische Glaubwürdigkeit derart gekonnt zu verknüpfen, sowohl den Nashville Mainstream-Markt als auch die Alt.Country-Bewegung aufs Trefflichste zu bedienen, "nebenbei" gar noch in zig Hollywood-Streifen zu schauspielern und damit das Interesse an seiner Person und Musik ständig auf hohem Niveau zu halten. Blame The Vain heißt das brandneue Werk des Stars aus Südkalifornien - es ist, einige Greatest Hits-Kopplungen mitgezählt, sein 18. Album insgesamt und in vielerlei Hinsicht sein stärkstes seit dem legendären Debüt von 1986: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.

Damit hatte Yoakam seinerzeit einen Meilenstein in die Country-Landschaft gesetzt. Es war also doch noch möglich, mit guter, handgemachter Musik in die von Plastikcowboys dominierten Charts zu gelangen und sensationelle 2 Millionen Einheiten zu verkaufen! Der Begriff "Neo-Traditionalist Honky Tonk" machte fortan etliche Jahre vor Alt.Country und Americana die Runde und beschrieb ziemlich genau diese unverkrampfte, kongenial einfache Mischung aus hard-driving Guitar Twang, Bakersfield Sound, dem Respekt vor den Leistungen eines Buck Owens oder Merle Haggard und jener frechen, mutigen Spielfreude des Newcomers, die die festgefügten Rituale des Business ganz schön aufmischten. Mit den folgenden Platten Hillbilly Deluxe, Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room, If There Was A Way und This Time festigte Yoakam zwischen 1987 und 1993 seinen guten Ruf, heimste reichlich Platin ein und avancierte zum mehrfachen Grammy-Gewinner, verlor sich in der zweiten Hälfte der 90er Jahre aber etwas in allzu statischen, langweiligen Produktionen, verwässerte seinen Output in einer wahren Veröffentlichungsflut mit Greatest Hits-, Coverversionen-, Akustik- und Live-Alben.

Nach einer Besinnungspause zeigte die Formkurve mit dem 2003er Comeback Population: Me bereits deutlich nach oben, spätestens auf Blame The Vain aber präsentiert sich Dwight Yoakam endgültig revitalisiert wie nach einer wundersamen Frischzellenkur: eine willkommene Rückkehr zu alter Klasse mit 12 inspirierten Eigenkompositionen, geprägt von all der Erfahrung der zurückliegenden Jahre, interpretiert mit der lodernden Leidenschaft der Frühwerke. Dwight Yoakams Country Music anno 2005 rockt, rollt und twangt nach Herzenslust, der Spaß der Musiker im Studio spiegelt sich direkt über den Silberling in die Ohren der Fans. Formal fällt auf, dass der Name Pete Anderson fehlt. Auf sage und schreibe allen anderen Veröffentlichungen zuvor galt Anderson als der gar nicht so heimliche Macher im Hintergrund, war Produzent, Bandleader und Gitarrist in Personalunion. Auf Blame The Vain hat Yoakam zum ersten Mal selber produziert, sich endlich wieder auf der akustischen Rhythmusgitarre begleitet, um ein authentischeres Timing zu erzielen, und mit einer eher überschaubaren, kleinen Band gearbeitet: Singer/Songwriter-Kollege Keith Gattis an den elektrischen Gitarren, ex-Brave Combo (auch Jack Ingram, High Or Hellwater, Jonny Kaplan) Mitch Marine am Schlagzeug, dazu die ehemaligen Yoakam/Anderson-Begleiter Skip Edwards (Keyboards, Pedal Steel) und Taras Prodaniuk (Bass), der gerade länger mit Lucinda Williams auf Tour war. Vereinzelte Gastrollen wurden an Topsessionleute wie Gitarrist Jerry McGee (Ventures, Kris Kristofferson, John Mayall, Gene Clark), Luxus-Percussionistin Bobbye Hall, Nashville-Basser Dave Roe (Johnny Cash) und die Backgroundsänger Jonathan Clark und Timothy B.Schmit (Poco, Eagles) vergeben.

Vom eröffnenden, Gitarren getriebenen Titelsong bis zum herrlich schnulzigen Finale mit "The Last Heart In Line" bietet Dwight Yoakam einen begeisternden Querschnitt durch die vielschichtigen Spielarten der Country Music, erweist dabei einem Roy Orbison ("Just Passin' Time") genauso die Ehre wie Elvis Presley ("When I First Came Here"), Hank Williams ("Lucky That Way"), Johnny Cash ("I'll Pretend") und selbstverständlich Buck Owens ("I Wanna Love Again"), flirtet mit Country Rock-Motiven, Honky Tonk und Rockabilly, Elementen von Southern Rock und Rock'n Roll. Wie ein roter Leitfaden durchzieht seine Texte das Themenbündel Romantik/Sehnsucht/verlorene Liebe/gebrochene Herzen. Und niemand sonst verkörpert diese "Cry-in-your-beer"-Masche so nachhaltig! Auf Blame The Vain hat sich Dwight Yoakam nicht nur völlig runderneuert, sondern quasi nochmal neu erfunden! Was auch das Video zu "Intentional Heartache" unter Beweis stellt, das es bei CMT.com zu sehen gibt.
"I wanna love again/feel young again/the way we did when it was true"

The chorus on track #9 of DWIGHT YOAKAM's powerful new album, Blame The Vain, captures in a nutshell the pervasive feeling of renewal radiating from the hillbilly rocker's 18th sonic outing in 21 years. How fitting that Yoakam's first self-produced album would be completed in the spring, that time of rebirth: "You have to continue to discover and rediscover yourself through pushing toward a new context for expression," Yoakam explains. "And that's what this is - I'm still me, but maybe it's just more me on this record." Over the past two years, Yoakam has immersed himself in music: playing raucous live shows with a rambunctious new band, writing a fresh batch of hook-filled songs, and fearlessly grabbing the reins of the recording process. As a result, the twelve tracks comprising Blame The Vain may "tell the story of the demise of a love relationship between a couple," says Yoakam, "but the subtext is about my love for music. I'm really looking forward to playing this stuff on the road!" Talk about spring fever…

Yoakam had just come off the road in 2002, (after four years of nonstop touring) when he stumbled across a scene that would change the direction of his musical journey. A renegade group of twangsters - going under such banners as Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Sin City All Stars, and East Bound & Down - were putting together twice-monthly C&W shows in L.A., at off-the-beaten-track nightspots Molly Malone's and the King King Club. When he happened upon "the next incarnation of California country rock," Yoakam was taken back to the glory days of cowpunk, when he took the stage at scruffy bars alongside the fledgling Blasters, Los Lobos, Lone Justice, and the Knitters. "This great scene reminded me of 1981, '82, '83," Yoakam says, "and it probably looked a lot like 1968, when Clarence White and Gene Parsons were playing in a weird little band at a club in El Monte before joining the Byrds."

Among the Sweethearts bunch was a fiery 30-year-old guitarist named Keith Gattis, whose Telecaster riffs caused Yoakam to prick up his ears. "We started hanging out," says Yoakam of the budding kinship, "and played some music together at the house. I had a benefit to do so I asked him to join me and he got up and played a little banjo, mandolin, guitar, and did some singing. It was a ball! I had been doing the big band for a long time and I found a new sense of inspiration doing something very stripped-down and austere." Keith's buddies, drummer Mitch Marine and upright bassist Dave Roe (a 12-year veteran of Johnny Cash's band), joined Yoakam and Gattis for a string of unforgettable shows throughout 2003.

Around this time, Yoakam - who was "born in Kentucky, raised in Ohio, and grew up in California" - began thinking about a new album and inked a deal with brash independent label New West. Ever since acting in Richard Linklater's 1997 film, The Newton Boys, Yoakam had acquired the habit of keeping a tape recorder handy at all times. So whether he was touring, on location for a movie (he'll be in three new ones over the next year), or hanging out at home, he could put down on tape songs that continuously come to him. "I'll just walk down the hallway thinking about music," Yoakam relates, "humming and hearing things. So, I keep these cassettes everywhere - two or three different places in the house, at my office, in my road bag if I'm on a movie. I just pull out the guitar when I have an idea." Musically, the songs are the offspring of a polygamous "marriage between rock and country and bluegrass and hillbilly," says Yoakam, ranging from the swaggering rockabilly rev-up "Three Good Reasons" to the pedal steel drenched shuffle "I'll Pretend" to the Haggard-style weeper "Does It Show." The Buck Owens-inspired "I Wanna Love Again" and the catchy Burritos-esque title track are guaranteed to fill any dance floor.

Yoakam chose some kindred spirits to bring his musical vision to fruition in the studio: Keith Gattis, Mitch Marine, Yoakam's former bassist Taras Prodaniuk (on a rare break from touring and recording with Lucinda Williams), keyboardist/pedal steel guitarist Skip Edwards, and harmony singers Dave Roe, Jonathan Clark, and Timothy B. Schmitt. Special guests included former Ventures guitarist Gerry McGee who contributed the awesome finger-picking answer to Yoakam's acoustic guitar solo on the devastating ballad "Just Passin' Time" and the Jimmy Webb homage "The Last Heart in Line." And kicking off the frisky ode to Southern culture, "Intentional Heartache," that's Motown percussionist Bobbye Hall ("What's Goin' On") on her mighty bongos (which she plays along with other percussive instruments throughout Blame The Vain).

Working without his longtime producer and guitarist, Pete Anderson, was challenging but ultimately rewarding for Yoakam. "Being facilitated by somebody as a producer is a great gift, and I very much appreciated the opportunity to do that with Pete for so long," says Yoakam. "I made a lot of great albums with Pete Anderson. Twenty-one years and seventeen albums is a long time, but this all came out of a moment in my life where I rediscovered what inspired me the most musically. I talked with Keith Gattis about co-producing this album, but he suggested I should produce it myself. It's a lot of work - wearing a lot of hats. But I really enjoyed it, albeit the enormous work load. It's incumbent upon you to keep track of every detail - but I tend to be detail-freakish anyway." Yoakam also decided to hold down the acoustic rhythm guitar himself. "I played the acoustics on this album because I wanted to really base the sound on something that's very primal for me," Yoakam explains. "When I was a kid, I used to fall asleep with the guitar. I'd put my head up against it and just listen to the echo in the box. I'm not the world's greatest guitar player - probably because I started carrying it around too young to be taught properly. I'm just completely self-taught and reckless about it."

That same kind of energy and spontaneity spilled over into the sessions. The bipolar "Watch Out" - rockin' one minute, weepin' the next - was the last track written for Blame The Vain, and came together in the studio when the band was "hopped up on Thai food," Yoakam recalls. Other studio hijinks resulted in the reincarnation of Sling Blade's Doyle Hargraves (this time, Nocona boots, a Dale Earnhardt Jr. poster, and a Bud cap are the victims of a savage attack) in Yoakam's hilarious "ad-lib rant" during the closing guitar raveup of "Intentional Heartache." As for that strange '70s synthesizer with Yoakam playing the vocal role of an effete Brit, which segues into the straight-ahead country-rocker "She'll Remember": "It was one of those things where the more you do it, the stupider it gets!" Yoakam admits. "I was doing a scratch vocal and looking through the booth at Keith, Mitch, Taras, and Skip, and started doing this rant to get a yuk. Then Skip ripped off into that Emerson, Lake and Palmer insanity…and we started laughing. It was a Fawlty Towers, Monty Python kind of moment…" The guys were obviously having fun in the studio, and it shows. "There's a simplistic, reckless joy to this album," says Yoakam.

Rising above any antics, however, is that undeniably perfect instrument that belongs to Yoakam: That unparalleled voice of his can growl an uptempo Sun Records-style refrain, croon a heartbreaking Lefty-esque lament, then soar to Appalachia's highest lonesome peak. It's all Dwight, and it's all on Blame The Vain: "It just happened to be the time and the moment for me to go ahead and fully express what I had going on in my head," says Yoakam of this breakthrough album. "I think it's a unique moment for me musically - and hopefully a time for people who have been listening to my music all along to re-experience me with this."